Taking the Children to Tokyo over Christmas, any Japanese mumsnetters here?

[HRHQueenMe]

I would like to take the children to Tokyo over Christmas to visit family. We would like to do one day at Disney. Looking at Airbnb apartments. Please give me any advice and ideas! The children are 2,4 and 6. Which airport has better links? Haneda or Narita? Family live in Fuchu but are willing to travel to come and see us. Thank you!

[ColdCottage]

I want to go to Japan.
Nothing to add just jealous. Maybe one day I will go and this might help me.

Interesting to read though. I love to travel. No chance at the mo though

[ColdCottage]

Have fun

[exexpat]

Tough one on the choice of day for Disney. I'd probably go for the 24th over the 23rd, as it is a working day for most people, but schools and universities are off, and Christmas Eve is the big 'romantic' day in the Japanese calendar (Valentine's day is for giving chocolate to colleagues) so there will probably be lots of couples there for Disnified romance, particularly towards the evening, so I'd get there early.

To be honest you're not going to find a quiet day that week, but presumably with children that young a lot of the big rides (with the huge queues) are not on the cards anyway, so it's more about watching the parades and seeing the lights and so on. Will anyone else be going with you? Even the smaller rides could be tricky with one adult and three children.

[HRHQueenMe]

Thank you again for all the great useful advice! I will have hubby with me so we should manage Disney!
Doing lots of research and showing the kids youtube clips! So far the childrens castle, the monorail, the cat cafe, and the rooftop terrace overlooking tokyo station have been met with huge enthusiasm!:)

[Yabbie]

There is also an alternate queuing system at Disney, so if you there's a height restriction on a ride you can all queue up together, then one parent can do the ride, while the other waits with the child(ren) and then the other parent can go round, without having to queue up again. Also useful if one child decides to freak out and not want to go on the ride after all.
I found the Japan Post Office ATMs accept foreign cards, but you still need to let the bank know you'll be in Japan. Japan is still a cash-based society and you can take a lot more money out of an ATM (up to 500,000 yen a day = about 2800 pounds) don't expect everywhere to accept cards.
Museums and stuff are usually closed on Mondays, except when the Monday is a holiday then they are closed on Tuesday instead, so many might be open on 23rd but closed on 24th, best to check the websites before you rock up.
Speaking of which, there is barely any free wifi spots in Tokyo, so don't rely on getting wifi when you're out and about. Navigating Tokyo can be tricky as roads don't have names, but there are always maps in the train/metro stations (and toilets too), and often on the street and the tourist places are usually well sign-posted. But be prepared to get lost!

[exexpat]

I tried using a post office ATM last time I was in Japan, and had difficulty - it seemed to want me to input a 6-digit PIN, and mine is only 4-digit. But maybe that was an issue with my particular card or bank. I know they did open up the post office network to foreign cards in time for the World Cup in 2002, but I wondered if things had gone backwards…

A lot of AirBnB places in Tokyo seem to offer a pocket wifi device as part of the package - you can carry it around to get wifi anywhere in Japan. Does the listing for the one you have booked say anything about that? If not, it is possible to rent one independently for the duration of your stay (e.g. like this. They are relatively new, so I haven't done that yet (was last in Japan 2.5 years ago) but friends have done it and found it very useful for navigation, checking listings etc while out and about. Or you can rent a prepaid sim for data, if your phone is compatible.

[HRHQueenMe]

Thank you ladies for all your useful tips!!! We survived our week in Japan, and had a ball! We did Disney on the 23rd which was mayhem but still fun, and saw lots of sights and ate more sushi than ever!
The Tokyo Urban baby website was fantastic, we did several of the things she suggests.
We brought a BabyJogger city mini double pram for the kids and had no problems getting through anywhere with it. A few cental tubestations have no lifts but as there were 2 adults we managed well. Having the pram was a godsend as the jetlag is severe and the children napped throughout the day to keep up.
Our air b n b apartment in Odaiba was perfect in every way, safe clean and well equipped, and the area was brilliant for the kids. Loads to do and see!
We only spent half (!) of our budget as we bought lots of cheap gyoza style snacks for out evening meals as we were all too tired to eat, and had lunches out instead.
We had no problems with language barriers at all, although many people dont speak english we pointed and charaded and never got lost.
Finally the weather was superb all week, bright sunny and cold like an alpine skiresort! Again thank you for all the tips!!!

[Yabbie]

Great, I'm glad you enjoyed it!